Athletes dive into the Seine to compete in the swimming race during the mixed relay triathlon, at the 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, on Aug. 5.MARTIN BUREAU/The Associated Press
While it’s unclear if the Seine is making people sick, it’s apparent that many people are sick of talking about the Seine.
Concerns around the river’s water quality have been a never-ending storyline at the Paris Olympics. Before the triathlon events, the conversation centred on whether the water would meet the threshold for safe swimming. Those questions have continued now that some triathletes have reported becoming ill after the competition. And on Tuesday, organizers had to cancel a test run for marathon swimmers because of unsafe bacteria levels. Those events are expected to run later in the week.
However, athletes, coaches and sports federations say the issue has been overblown.
“It’s a topic that has garnered quite a lot of attention for the Games, but it’s a factor within the sport that is really common,” said Phil Dunne, Canada’s high performance director with Triathlon Canada. He said concerns about water quality and safety are fundamental aspects of the sport for any athlete who competes in open water.
“This is nothing new for our athletes or our staff,” he said.
What’s new is the attention it has received.
The hand-wringing over the Seine actually began eight years ago in the lead-up to Paris’s Olympic bid, when city hall promised to make the historically polluted fleuve swimmable in time for the Games. France went on to spend €1.4-billion in that cleanup effort.
In the months leading up to the Games, the Seine kept failing water safety tests, fuelling an endless barrage of headlines: Will it or won’t it be ready to go? Finally, less than two weeks before the opening ceremony, Paris 2024 declared victory over the bacteria. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a highly publicized dip in the river and announced: “The Seine is exquisite … a little cool, but not so bad.’’
Once the Games began, pollution levels spiked just above acceptable levels, causing a delay in the men’s triathlon. But the bacteria counts quickly returned to safe levels, and all the events have been able to proceed.
However, then came the reports of illness.
The Swiss triathlon team said Adrien Briffod was suffering from a gastrointestinal infection after his individual race and would be withdrawing from the mixed relay. In a statement, the team said it was “impossible to say” if his illness was a result of swimming in the Seine. The team’s chief medical officer, Hanspeter Betschart, added that a “survey of my colleagues from other countries has so far shown no increase in gastrointestinal illnesses among athletes who started in the individual race last Wednesday.”
Then, earlier this week, Belgium’s national Olympic committee and its triathlon sports federation announced they were withdrawing from Monday’s mixed relay because one of their competitors was sick. (Initial supports suggested Claire Michel had been hospitalized, but the sports body later clarified that she had not been in hospital during her time at the Games.)
In a swipe at the Paris 2024 organizers, the Belgians said they hoped that “lessons will be learned for the next triathlon competitions at the Olympic Games. We are thinking here of the guarantee of training days, competition days and the competition format, which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for the athletes, the entourage and the supporters.”
On Tuesday morning, Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said organizers are still not aware of any “confirmed E. coli” cases linked to the famous river.
The Globe and Mail has reached out to countries with athletes who competed in the triathlon on July 31. Of those that replied, only one reported an issue.
Gro Eide, a Norwegian spokesperson, said Vetle Thorn “had one day of some stomach issues after his individual race, but we do not know if this was due to the Seine water or something else.” Thorn competed in the mixed relay.
Canada, Italy, Australia, Hungary, Germany, Great Britain and the United States all reported clean bills of health.
About 48 hours after the race, Dunne said, all the Canadian athletes took part in a debrief and “a robust” medical check-in.
“There were no reports of water-related illness,” he said, and no indication of any E. coli or enterococci infections, which are both indications of sewage pollution.
“Every athlete is going to have fatigue, and because most people take on a huge amount of water in the swim anyway, there’s always going to be some form of unsettled gastro symptoms, but nothing severe,” he said. “It’s more gastro discomfort.”
This was the case for Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk, who vomited repeatedly after getting out of the water. Dunne said Mislawchuk swallowed too much water during the swim. That, combined with the exertion of competing at the Olympics, fighting a strong current and quickly moving from horizontal – swimming – to vertical – getting ready to bike – caused him to get sick.
It’s normal for the sport, he said.
In the debrief, Dunne said, the athletes expressed much more dismay about the current than any potential pollution.
After finishing her race, Canada’s Emy Legault told reporters that battling the current under the Pont des Invalides was “carnage.”
As for the bacteria?
“As an athlete, you have to be able to just roll with the punches,” she said. “We don’t think about that. We just do what we’re told. So it was pretty awesome to get to race in the middle of Paris.”
This was the same message athletes underscored in the debrief.
“We asked them what were some of the highlights of their experience in Paris. Every single one of them said it was the race itself – the crowd, obviously, being positioned downtown. Just being amongst the landmarks in Paris. The attention the race has gotten,” Dunne said.
“This was an iconic race that will be remembered forever.”
With a report from Paul Waldie
Follow the latest news and highlights from the Paris Olympic Games